2013 Roanoke Walk to Cure Diabetes

The 21^st annual Roanoke Walk to Cure Diabetes was held on September 22, 2013 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.  Breakthrough T1D supporters came together on the sunny day to celebrate their fundraising efforts and walk for a cure. Over 1,250 walkers registered for the event and to date more than $400,000 has been raised. Signature Sponsor, Advance Auto Parts, was honored for their 20 years of partnership and the $35+ million they have raised for Breakthrough T1D. The Fat Daddy Band played upbeat music during the pre-Walk fun and Leah Wiley lead a Zumba routine before the start of the Walk. Emcee and the “Voice of Breakthrough T1D”, Mike Stevens, gave a countdown for the Walk to begin. Corporate Walk Chair, Clark Cole, and Honorary Corporate Walk Chair, Garnett Smith, cut the starting line ribbon to kick-off the Walk. Walkers enjoyed a one-mile or three-mile route through downtown Roanoke. Afterwards everyone cooled down with music from Barefoot West and a picnic, compliments of Kroger.

Signature Sponsor: Advance Auto Parts

Save the Date!

November- National Diabetes Awareness Month

BLUE OUT each Friday

November 1: T1Day

BLUE OUT

November 3: 5K Run at Reynolds Homestead to benefit Breakthrough T1D

2:00pm Register here: www.reynoldshomestead.vt.edu (and click “Calendar of Events”) or (276) 694-7181

November 7: Research Update

5:30 pm Virginia Teach Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute

Please RSVP to (540) 772-1975 or greaterblueridge@BreakthroughT1D.org by November 1, 2013

November 12: Roanoke Support Group Meeting

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Greene Memorial United Methodist Church. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Nancy Burns: nburns@BreakthroughT1D.org or (540)772-1975

November 14: World Diabetes Day

BLUE OUT

March 22: Star City “Denim & Diamonds” Gala

5:30 pm

The Shenandoah Club

(Invitations to Follow)

New River Valley Support Group: Contact Tracey Hurst at traceyhurst612@msn.com for information.

Lynchburg Support Group: 3rd Sunday of each month

Contact info@t1de.org for more information

Outreach

The Greater Blue Ridge Outreach Program is growing and we want you to be part of it!  Families at all stages of dealing with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have been active in our program.  71 families participated in the 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes and so far have raised over $95,000!  Some families have participated in the Walk for years and for others it was their first time.  So many wonderful Family Team t-shirts were seen at the Walk!

The Roanoke Support Group meets every other month September to May.  We have an average of 30 adults and kids who attend.  Again, some families are newly diagnosed while others have been dealing with T1D for years.  All agree there is something to learn from each others’ experiences.  Beth Anderson, a Clinical Diabetes Specialist with Tandem, will be the special guest at our November 12th meeting and we plan to have Dr. Paul Strumph at the January 14, 2014 meeting.  Contact the Breakthrough T1D office for more information.  For information about the support group in Lynchburg, contact info@t1de.org and in the New River Valley, contact Tracey Hurst at traceyhurst612@msn.com

Our first Breakthrough T1D Family Potluck Picnic will be held Sunday, October 27th at 2:00pm.  Contact Maggie Angell maggieangell@cox.net or Martha Gish-Toney mgish@myvalleybank.com for more information.

Children’s Congress Update

Matthew Butler, an 8th grader at William Byrd Middle School, was our chapter’s representative at the 2013 Breakthrough T1D Children’s Congress last June.  Matthew traveled to Washington D.C. and joined more than 150 T1D delegates from around the country and the world to speak to members of Congress about the importance of federal funding for T1D research.  He had a blast and met several celebrities including NBA star Ray Allen whose 6 year old son has T1D.  Stay tuned for information on how your child can represent our chapter at the 2015 Breakthrough T1D Children’s Congress!

Breakthrough T1D Annual Meeting 

Breakthrough T1D held the annual meeting and research update during the summer. New board members were initiated and Neal Brenner became Board President.  Jenny Lucsko was named Volunteer of the Year! Click here to read more.

Workshop Explores Progress of Artificial Pancreas Systems

Leading experts from industry, academia, and government came together in early April in Bethesda, MD, to discuss innovation in the development of an artificial pancreas (AP) system at a workshop hosted by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Breakthrough T1D. AP systems will automate insulin delivery and likely other hormones in the future. These systems will reduce high and low blood-sugar levels, lessening the burden of managing type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The workshop took a comprehensive approach to the topic of developing an AP system and bringing it to market. Research scientists presented their latest findings from laboratory work and clinical trials; industry investigators highlighted state-of-the-art advancements in technology; and government officials laid out the opportunities and challenges of commercialization. Topics included everything from new device designs and approaches to optimizing AP systems to improving insulin hormone replacement and ways to accelerate device production.

Bruce Buckingham, M.D., a Breakthrough T1D-funded professor of pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine, presented his study of reducing overnight incidences of hypoglycemia using a system that suspends insulin delivery when it senses falling blood-glucose levels. Nocturnal hypoglycemia is a serious issue for people with T1D because if left untreated, it can cause convulsions, coma, or even death. “This is a way to prevent people from getting low overnight, or at least from having a sustained low that is going to result in a bad event. The system is used without remote monitoring, without a nurse at your bedside, and it’s preventing lows,” Dr. Buckingham said. “It’s allowing [people with T1D and their families] to sleep at night.”

Roman Hovorka, Ph.D., director of research in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cambridge, who is also supported by Breakthrough T1D funding, shared successful results from a recent outpatient clinical trial of an AP system used in children and adolescents overnight. Using unsupervised home studies that lasted an average of one week, Dr. Hovorka found that blood-glucose levels remained in healthy, targeted ranges and that participants found the technology easy to use. “The whole field is moving toward testing these closed-loop systems at home and getting closer to [commercialization of] products,” Dr. Hovorka said.

Edward Damiano, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, shared his lab’s success with a bihormonal AP system that automatically makes a new decision about insulin and glucagon dosing every five minutes. “The technology we have is going to be transformative, but to do that we need to test it in a sufficient number of people and circumstances. We want to move as quickly as we can, but not so quickly that we compromise what gets out there—the entire initiative could be at stake,” Dr. Damiano said.

Other key presenters included Arleen Pinkos, a scientific reviewer at the FDA, who addressed the regulatory challenges of making AP systems commercially available; Boris Kovatchev, Ph.D., director of the University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology, who spoke about the mobile platform of the AP system his laboratory is developing and how it operates; Kenneth Ward, M.D., director of diabetes research at Legacy Research Institute, who shared with participants the development of an “intelligent” catheter that combines hormone delivery with glucose sensing; and Steve Prestrelski, Ph.D., CEO and chief scientific officer at Xeris Pharmaceuticals, who shed light on novel glucagon formulations being developed for possible use in AP systems.

In total, more than 40 presenters shared key findings in their fields with the 175-person-strong audience. “There is a pressing, unmet medical need for better ways to manage type 1 diabetes and ultimately reduce the burden. But incredible progress has been made on developing an artificial pancreas system. We have a tool that could potentially transform diabetes,” said Aaron J. Kowalski, Ph.D., vice president of treat therapies at Breakthrough T1D. “The ultimate goal is to get these devices into the hands of people with type 1 diabetes to ease the burden of living with this disease.”

Key point: Breakthrough T1D brought together leading experts from industry, academia, and government to discuss innovation in the development of artificial pancreas systems at a workshop that was co-hosted by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The workshop took a comprehensive approach to the topic of developing an artificial pancreas system and bringing it to market. Research scientists presented their latest findings from laboratory work and clinical trials; industry investigators highlighted state-of-the-art advancements in technology; and government officials laid out the opportunities and challenges of commercialization. More than 40 presenters shared key findings in their fields with the 175-person-strong audience.